Comments on: Dear Parents: What happens in the testing room?

By: heather

heather — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 20:24:43 +0000

Good to hear from you, Nancy. I read some research along those same lines. I understand that they also do it so that teachers can’t prompt their own kids, but the trade off clearly isn’t working.

By the way, the fact that we have to give kids snacks because we can’t count on them having been given any breakfast at all says something else about education. What an interesting report it would make to add up the money schools spent doing what the homes should already be providing. It fall to us to bridge the gaps, but it costs us as well.

Thanks for commenting. It’s always great to read your thoughts.
-Heather

By: heather

heather — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 20:20:41 +0000

You are absolutely right! The whole bathroom thing is crazy! They can be escorted out of the room only if everyone’s done. This means that the poor kid who is the last to finish is being stared at and sometimes muttered at by the other kids who have been forced to hold it in.
Rather savage, is it not?
Thanks for commenting!
-Heather
aka Tweenteacher

By: Betty

Betty — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 18:39:34 +0000

Pretty funny stuff. I have administered many state tests, and the stiffness of it makes everyone nervous. I know I never do my best when I’m stressed out! Poor kids.

By: Nancy Flanagan

Nancy Flanagan — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 17:51:51 +0000

I once read a piece of research indicating that students who took standardized tests in their own, subject-appropriate classrooms, with their own teachers, scored higher. As we were divvying up the kids for testing (we also used the “you will proctor kids you don’t know” method), I mentioned the article. It certainly made sense to me–go with their comfort zones, have them take the math test in the room where they do math every day, where their familiar math teacher stands smiling (well, maybe yawning) at the back of the room.

There was no rule against it. But the teachers decided that wouldn’t be “fair” because special education teachers would have fewer kids to proctor–and teachers of untested subjects would get “free time” when there was building-wide math testing day. (Banging head against wall.)

Besides, the principal said, we were giving all the kids granola bars and juice right before the testing (since an article he read said that would raise the scores) so that ought to offset kids’ anxieties about taking a test with a strange teacher doing the monitoring or answering the questions.

By: HappyChyck

HappyChyck — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 15:51:58 +0000

It’s like you were in my classroom! Bravo!

I might have added a few other creature comfort details like the temperature in the room will either be too hot or too cold and there are absolutely no restroom breaks until all students in the entire school are finished with the test. They get a little squirmy by the end of the test.

By: Renee / TeachMoore

Renee / TeachMoore — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 00:01:58 +0000

Interesting note: In some places the so-called “standardized” practices are very different. Some places, for example, allow teaching material to stay up on the classroom walls (as long as it is not put up within a week or two of the test). So, savvy teachers plaster their boards, walls, and windows at the start of the school year. Other places require students to be tested by persons other than their regular teachers. What does all this disparity mean when we start comparing results across states and schools?

By: Ashley

Ashley — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 15:00:44 +0000

SO TRUE! (Unfortunately)

By: teachin'

teachin' — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 00:15:00 +0000

Love this!

By: Susan Ohanian

Susan Ohanian — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 22:35:54 +0000

As a longtime middle school teacher, I very much appreciated this way of getting at the horror of standardized testing ruling the world.

Humor helps.

thank you.